We all took a deep breath when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced last Sunday in Afyonkarahisar that the government and military were close to reaching a compromise on filling two top positions -- land forces commander and the chief of General Staff to replace retiring Gen. İlker Başbuğ. The same day at midnight President Abdullah Gül signed the decree under which current land forces commander, Gen. Işık Koşaner, is set to become the new chief of General Staff as of Aug. 30.
In the past, too, though rarely, there have been occasions when Turkish presidents and prime ministers have suggested their own choices for the position of top military commander. But this time the political authority’s intervention into the officer appointments comes against the backdrop of the ongoing, though slow, Turkish reform process aimed at meeting the European Union’s democratic standards. This intervention, based on existing laws, also comes against a background of several trials in which both retired and active officers, including generals and former commanders, are facing charges over plots to overthrow the government.
It is no secret that the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) have been bitterly resisting civilian investigations and court trials, thereby challenging the supremacy of the rule of law. Outgoing Chief of General Staff Gen. Başbuğ put his personal weight behind the intervention into the judicial process under way against over 150 active duty and retired generals and lower ranking officers.
At the center of the crisis concerning top-level military appointments has been the political authority’s rejection of the promotion of Gen. Hasan Iğsız, the current 1st Army Corps commander who is in line to become the land forces commander and is currently a suspect in a campaign to set up websites disseminating anti-government propaganda, although no charges have yet been filed. He is also believed to have been behind an infamous military document detailing plans to topple the government.
In addition, both Prime Minister Erdoğan and President Gül ensured that 11 generals and admirals suspected of involvement in the Sledgehammer coup plot were not promoted at this year’s Supreme Military Council (YAŞ) meeting. There are reports that these officers did not get promotions but were instead appointed to lower ranking posts.
The promotions and retirements of generals, as well as top commanders, including the chief of General Staff and the force commanders, goes into effect when the president, who is also the commander in chief during peacetime, approves the decisions. The Cabinet should first name the new chief of General Staff before it is approved by the president. Force commanders are named by the chief of General Staff but must be approved by both the prime minister and the minister of defense.
Despite this legal procedure making it crystal clear that the political authority has the right to assert its influence in the appointments of top military commanders, it has rarely been exercised, as I have mentioned. This is mainly because a tradition has been created by the TSK in which it enjoys an autonomous status that has not been questioned by previous political authorities.
But now the government has been using its legal right to intervene in the appointments as an important sign that the military should think twice before plotting any coups in the future in violation of the Constitution.
Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek told the Hürriyet daily last Sunday that the prime minister has shown that his signature on military appointments is not merely symbolic.
The TSK’s normalization -- i.e., coming under full civilian democratic control -- will be painful, as Turkey’s democratization process in general is painful. But this latest crisis and the political authority’s strong will to exercise its legal rights marks an important turning point in the democratization of civilian-military relations in Turkey.
